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Where is my ‘home’?

I’ve explored this question throughout my life, and my answer has never changed: Wilburton, Oklahoma, county seat of Latimer County in the southeastern hills of the state.

The city, as it boasts, has just under 3,000 people, and looks like villages all around the country: empty store fronts, slow traffic, several service stations, a grocery store, nursing home, hospital, churches, fast food and café eating establishments, a library, and the lingering feel of poverty.

It is my birthplace, and I didn’t live there past the age of five, but there is an emotional or cellular connection to the town that pulls me back, calms my restlessness, ignites my youthful memories, and insists I walk the streets as I did as a child. Exploring, enjoying the freedom from parental and career restrictions, basking in the anonymity of an outsider, but longing to connect in some way.

Wilburton was established as a community in the Indian Territory before Oklahoma became a state, and has a history of farming, cattle raising, coal mining, and tourism.

My grandfather, who was the first teacher in that part of the Indian Territory, believed this humble settlement would become the state capital based on the mining boom that lasted from the 1890s until a coal mine explosion killed ninety-one people in 1926. That tragedy created an economy collapse prior to the financial devastation brought on by the Great Depression.

A lasting benefit of those early mining day was the establishment of the Oklahoma School of Mines and Metallurgy which is still educating local youths as a two-year college known as Eastern Oklahoma State College.

I wish I could explain this attachment that continues to serve as a lifeline to a place of stability. I can’t, but am grateful I know it is my ‘home.’ When I chose a college to attend, my Dad asked me why I wanted to go to Oklahoma University since we lived in Texas.

I had no idea the real reason for my choice, but I told him, “I love the way the university band spells out OU on the football field during halftime, and plays Boomer Sooner as they march off the field.”

My folks hesitantly agreed to pay the higher out-of-state tuition, allowing me to spend a few years in my ‘home’ state.

Does everyone have a sense of ‘home’to a particular place? I’m guessing we all do, whether it is where we are currently living or another special location that tugs on us to return.